Office Of Refugee Resettlement: Policy Guidance & Reporting Forms

Annual ORR Reports to Congress - 2001

Partnerships to Improve Employment and Self-Sufficiency Outcomes

In FY 1996 ORR undertook a joint effort with States to improve State performance in refugee employment and self-sufficiency outcomes. States and California counties have been required since FY 1996 to establish annual outcome goals aimed at continuous improvement of performance along the following six outcome measures:

Entered Employments, defined as the entry of a refugee into unsubsidized employment.
Terminations Due to Earnings, defined as the termination of a cash assistance case (RCA, TANF, and general assistance) due to earned income.
Reductions Due to Earnings, defined as a reduction in the amount of cash assistance that a case receives as a result of earned income.
Average Wage at Placement, calculated as the sum of the hourly wages for the full-time placements divided by the total number of individuals placed in employment.
Job Retentions, defined as the number of persons working for wages (in any unsubsidized job) on the 90^th day after placement. This is a measure of continued participation in the labor market, not retention of a specific job.
Entered Employments with Health Benefits, defined as a job placement with health benefits offered within six months of employment, regardless of whether the refugee actually accepts the coverage offered.

ORR tracked State and county performance throughout the year, with FY 2001 performance reported as follows:

Entered Employments totaled 45,893, a six percent decline from the number recorded in FY 2000 (48,900).
Terminations due to Earnings totaled 14,223, an eight percent decline from FY 2000 (15,438).
Reductions due to Earnings totaled 2,978, a forty-six percent decline from FY 2000 (5,462).
Average Wage at Placement ($7.92) rose four percent from FY 2000 ($7.57).
Employment Retentions totaled 31,137, an eight percent decline from FY 2000 (33,743).
Entered Employments with Health Benefits reached 27,270, a one percent increase from FY 2000 (27,094).

These performance measure outcomes must be viewed in the overall context of decreasing arrival numbers and an increasing caseload. A caseload is defined as the unduplicated number of active employable adults enrolled in employment services. In FY 2001 the caseload increased by four percent. The rate of job placements decreased by six percent, and 68 percent of refugees who found employment retained their employment for ninety days, a one percent decrease from FY 2000. Sixty-nine percent of full-time placements offered health insurance, compared to 62 percent the year before.

State Outcome Goal Plans

Nineteen States and four California counties exceeded their entered employments from last year. Twenty-two States and two California counties increased the number of cash assistance terminations over the previous year. Five States (Colorado, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, and New Hampshire) reported that every cash assistance recipient placed in employment terminated assistance after job placement. In Kentucky, North Carolina, and Oregon, 90 percent or more of the cash assistance recipients placed in employment terminated assistance after job placement.

Twenty-one States and five California counties improved the job retention rate over the previous year. Alabama, Arkansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire and West Virginia reported retention rates of 100 percent. Retention rates of over 90 percent were reported in Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Vermont. Among the California counties, San Diego reported a retention rate of 100 percent.

FY 2001 saw significant improvement in the quality of jobs found for refugees. Thirty-seven States and eight California counties reported higher wages at placement than in FY 2000. Mississippi ($12.76), Massachusetts ($9.76), Arkansas ($9.28), Kansas ($9.26), Texas ($8.94), Minnesota ($8.69), Colorado ($8.64), Maine ($8.63), San Francisco County ($12.37), Santa Clara County ($9.85), and Alameda County ($8.85), reported the highest average wage at placement. Thirty-two other States and three California counties reported average wage at placement of $7.00 or above.

Refugees found employment not only at higher wages, but also with more benefits. Twenty-one States and one California county increased their rates of health benefit availability over FY 2000.

ORR also tracked the cost per job placement in each State and California county. This measure is the ratio of the total funds used by the State for employment services divided by the number of entered employments recorded during the fiscal year. The State average unit cost was $1,808 per job placement. The range was quite wide, however, from a low of $399 per placement (South Dakota) to a high of $6,891 per placement (Hawaii). In California counties, unit costs ranged from $1,599 per placement (Yolo) to $6,807 per placement (San Francisco). California’s overall average unit cost was $3,357.

Shown below is a summary of the FY 2000 and FY 2001 outcomes by State. The caseload presented for each State and county consists of the number of refugees with whom a service provider had regular and direct involvement during the fiscal year in planned employment-related activities for the purpose of assisting the refugee to find or retain employment. For terminations, reductions, and retentions, each goal and outcome is also described as a percentage of entered employments. Some States opted to express terminations and reductions as a percentage of refugee cash assistance recipients who entered employment, rather than as a percentage of all entered employments. Health benefit availability is presented as a percentage of full-time entered employments.

Alabama	FY 2000		FY 2001

Caseload	145		68
Entered Employments	141	97%	68	101 %
Terminations	0	0 %	0	0 %
Reductions	0	0 %	0	0 %
Average Wage	$6.28		$6.59
Retentions	111	71 %	68	100 %
Health Benefits	50	35 %	47	69 %

In Alabama, arriving refugees seldom go on assistance. Its entered employments thus produced no cash assistance terminations and no reductions.

Arizona	FY 2000		FY 2001

Caseload	1,247		1,115
Entered Employments	917	74%	910	82 %
Terminations	693	76 %	564	81 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	3 $6.84 808 838	1 % 80 % 93 %	16 $6.94 739 848	2% 82 % 96 %

IIn FY 2001 cash assistance termination and reduction rates are based on entered employments of refugees actually receiving assistance.

Arkansas	FY 2000		FY 2001

Caseload	3			12
Entered Employments	3	100%		12	100 %
Terminations	0	0 %		0	0 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 $8.25 3 3	0 % 100 % 100 %		0 $9.28 12 12	0 % 100 % 100 %

In FY 2001 cash assistance terminations were based on

entered employments of refugees actually receiving assistance.

Colorado	FY 2000			FY 2001

Caseload	342		325
Entered Employments	167	49%	125		38%
Terminations	21	72%	4		100%
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	8 $7.97 144 134	28% 90% 93%	0 $8.64 108 102		0% 78% 84%

Colorado expresses cash assistance terminations and reductions as a percentage of cash assistance recipients who entered employment, rather than all refugees who entered employment.

Connecticut	FY 2000			FY 2000

Caseload	934		990
Entered Employments	622	67 %	610		62 %
Terminations	116	74 %	152		81 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	14 $7.75 359 311	9 % 47 % 54 %	5 $7.90 402 382		3 % 62 % 69 %

Connecticut expresses cash assistance terminations and reductions as a percentage of cash assistance recipients who entered employment, rather than all refugees who entered employment.

Delaware	FY 2000			FY 2001

Caseload	15		31
Entered Employments	10		31		100 %
Terminations	9	90 %	11		35 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	1 $8.07 12 8	10 % 86 % 89 %	0 $8.03 15 28		0 % 83 % 97 %

Delaware has presented its data on reductions and terminations as a percentage of cash assistance recipients who entered employment.

Dist. of Columbia	FY 2000			FY 2001

Caseload	226		280
Entered Employments	170	75%	205		73%
Terminations	157	92 %	64		88%
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	13 $8.20 111 125	9% 75% 80%	9 $8.06 164 96		12% 80% 54%

Florida	FY 2000			FY 2001

Caseload	24,538		27,709
Entered Employments	10,511	43 %	9,724		35 %
Terminations	3,782	99 %	4,291		85 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 $6.43 7,588 3,457	0 % 66 % 35 %	0 $6.62 6,464 4,602		0 % 63 % 51 %

Due to low assistance payment levels, almost all refugees who enter employment terminate assistance.

Georgia	FY 2000			FY 2001

Caseload	2,936		2,620
Entered Employments	2,055	70 %	1,926		73 %
Terminations	593	87 %	278		80 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 $7.70 1260 1342	0 % 75 % 65 %	0 $7.73 1,276 1,267		0 % 64 % 69 %

In FY 2001 Georgia presented its data on terminations and reductions as a percentage of cash assistance recipients who entered employment.

Hawaii	FY 2000			FY 2001

Caseload	80		24
Entered Employments	22	28 %	14		58 %
Terminations	6	27 %	12		86 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	16 $6.03 17 11	73 % 85 % 100 %	2 $5.55 11 2		14 % 65 % 100 %

Idaho	FY 2000			FY 2001

Caseload	463		263
Entered Employments	322	70%	218		83 %
Terminations	199	77 %	133		72 %
Reductions Average Wage Retentions Health Benefits	0 $6.80 266 226	0 % 84 % 81 %	0 $7.02 180 139		0 % 83 % 74 %

Because benefits are very low, most full-time placements result in termination, rather than reduction, of benefits.

Illinois	FY 2000		FY 2001

Caseload	4,345			3,451
Entered Employments	2,579	59 %		1,610